


Adventure Party

by The_AnB



Category: Welcome to Hell - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Jojo is an aasimar, Jon is a human and so is zack, Overall silliness, Pathfinder AU, Sock is a tiefling, THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A COMEDY, Welcome to Hell big bang, and Lil is part dragon, basically its the middle ages if the middle ages had magic, how did it end up this long???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 07:43:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15601593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_AnB/pseuds/The_AnB
Summary: All Jon wanted was to be able to play music whenever he wished, instead he seems to have a growing number of tagalongs and an increase of both headaches and debt.He knew he should have listened to his mother when she said to be an alchemist instead of a bard, maybe then he could have avoided this whole thing.





	Adventure Party

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! as you could probably tell by the tags, this is a fic for the 2018 bigbang. This is actually the first fic I've ever written and I'm kinda excited to see how people react to it ^^.
> 
> Because it was a part of the bigbang, I was assigned an artist by the name of kindadisappointed who designed both Sock and Jon for this fic and can i say how cool they turned out?! Here is the link so you can see their awesome work over at tumblr; http://kindadisappointed.tumblr.com/post/176709195162/adventure-party-a-fic-by-the-anb-link-to-be

"Can't we have one quest that goes normally for once?" A rather disgruntled human asked his companions incredulously. "I mean, even the quests we take on, no one ever reads the fine print and we can't complete it"

"Hey! That's not our fault!" The group aasimar angrily denied, gesturing wildly with her hands.

"Yeah Jon," a tiny voice called out from the man’s coat pocket. "How were we supposed to know our last quest would go horribly awry?'

The human, Jon, rolled his eyes in exasperation "gee, I don't know, maybe next time a shady man asks you to test a hundred wands of magic missile with what he called 'unknown quirks' and write them down, you ask questions instead of just nodding your heads gleefully and doing what the creepy man says!"

"It was four thousand gold pieces for each person that helped out Jon!"

"You're six inches tall Sock!"

The aasimar sighed tiredly, flicking her melted gold hair out of her face. "Relax, no one was hurt. I'm pretty sure Sock likes his new found hight."

"Jojo, one of the wands killed half the town! I didn't matter that we got paid the gold because we had to give it the the people in restorations. Even then we got kicked out and now we have an angry niad after us on top of all of this!"

"Uh, I think you got the order of importance wrong there hot stuff"

Jon glared down at his breast pocket, "Shut up Sock!"

Jojo sighed and couldn't help but roll her eyes at the comedy duo "Gees Jon, don't get your panties in a twist" to which Jon replied with a tiered sigh, muttering 'the shit I put up with'.

This band of (not so) merry misfits for hire have been roaming the countryside looking for work and a place to stay. Though they may not look it, this group is surprisingly powerful. They have a nasty habit of taking the highest paying jobs, no matter the consequence or even if they’re qualified. Honestly, it's rather surprising that they’re still alive, though not for lack of trying on the enemies part. However, despite their combat prowess they don't look the part, having to sell their belongings multiple times to multiple parties in order to pay back various towns and people for damages caused by one or more party members.

Jon couldn't help but sigh, wondering what he did in a past life to deserve this crap. He was a simple man, all he wanted to do was play music. He knew he should have listened to his mother when she told him to be an alchemist, maybe then he wouldn't be in this mess. He still doesn't know how walking through the woods equates to basically adopting two destructive misfits, adding on to his already long list of problems.

Sock threw the human a knowingly smug grin, as if to said ‘you know you love me~’ and Jon was seriously debating making a run for it before scraping the idea, he probably wouldn’t even get out of the country before Sock found him. The little shit.

* * *

 

Gaharee Jheel is a small country in the middle of a lake. While the do have a royal family those that have the most power are the religious leaders while those with the least are the working class. Among these classes there is also; the administrative class, the warrior class, and the merchant class.

The country is known most for, among other things, is its jarring juxtaposition; beautiful bountiful botanical gardens, luscious luxurious lakes and simply stunning sunsets to go with the deceitfully deadly dragons, nasty neurotoxic naiads and their truly terrible tea. A few common sayings the locals like to tell tourists and wanderers alike are “If you're not careful you'll probably die a horribly violent and gruesome death, but at least you get to look at something pretty when you die. Unless you're being killed by the hobgoblins, nothing petty to see there” and “No refunds!” to name a few.

Now why would our gallant group of adventures come here of all places, if they have an angry niaid chasing after them?

Well…

At first, they had planned on getting to the closest town (Thoda Registaan in this case), to stock up on some much needed supplies (because nothing Sock owns fits him anymore) and hopefully get a place to stay for the night. While they may have gotten used to sleeping outside, they all longed for a nice and warm place to sleep the night away.

Of course, plans never usually go the group’s way.

Within five minutes of walking through the dense forests to their intended destination, they were attacked by a group of bandits. They had dealt with them easily enough, however the pained moans of their would be attackers attracted the angry naiad they had displaced earlier that day. Seriously what the hell? Jon wondered as he saw her angrily popping out from the foliage, what did we ever do to her?

Granted the naiad does have reason to be angry with them, after all they had transported her hundreds of miles away from her lake home just as she was about to seal the deal with a rather attractive and well sought after mate. It was almost the end of the season and she was not getting any younger Prov damn it!

Of course, Jon didn't know any of this, all he knew was that a niad with a grudge kept following them in order to attack with no right to terrorise the group _halfway across the fucking country and why can’t I have nice things? I'm a good person that didn’t do anything to deserve this! I just want a warm bed to sleep in for Prov’s sake!_

Of course, Jon didn't vocalise his inner thoughts. The last time he did that he ended up with two tagalongs, montan’s of debt and a lifetime supply of headaches. Who knows what he’d end up with next, a dragon? He rolled his eyes, as if that would ever happen.

Exhausted from the days previous events as well as the fight with the bandits, the group Jon did the only thing that seemed like a good idea. He stuffed the tiny Sock in his pocket, grabbed the tired Jojo and high tailed it out of there as quickly as his Jon legs could carry him. Due to this, the human wasn't paying any attention to where he was running, leading them to their current predicament. Jon gasping for breath as he leans on the fence at the entrance of the town, a sullen Jojo muttering about how they could have taken the niad, and an ecstatic Sock asking if they could do it again.

Yes, Jon is rethinking his life choices.

* * *

 

Our group of gallant adventures are currently recuperating at the local inn, gallantly of course. It was as they were trying to drink their tea that Jon had an epiphany.

“Our group is unbalanced” he muttered wide eyed, unable to figure out why he didn't realise this before.

Sock, who was happily munching on one of the inns offered snacks, looked up at Jon questioningly with puffed cheeks from where he was seated on the table “How fo?”

“Well,” he starts, gesturing to Sock as he speaks “we have a six inch witch who has a habit of stabbing things”

“But it's soooooo much fun!”

“An cleric that doesn't know how to cleric” Jon continues as if he didn't hear Sock.

“Hey!”

“And me” he breezily continues, pointing to himself “An uncharismatic bard. It's a wonder we’ve survived this long honestly.”

Jojo rolled her eyes, “and how, pray tell, do we fix this issue? It's not like a new person will just drop into our laps”

“Funny you should mention that” a tired voice drawled sarcastically.

All three jumped from their seats for various reasons, Jon and Jojo in order to put some distance from the source of the voice and Sock, recognising who it was, jumped towards it.

“Uncle Meph!” he called out joyfully, hopping onto an outstretched hand.

‘Uncle Meph’, known to others as the demon Mephistopheles, was the reluctant ruler of one of the outer planes, Hell to be exact. He is the counterpart to Prov, know as Providence to most, ruler of the outer plane Heaven. Due to being Sock’s parton god, he is able to pop in now and then for visits and offer advice to the currently tiny tiefling. Seeing it was someone they knew, Jon and Jojo began to relax, casting weary eyes on the new commer.

The demon grinned, “Hey kiddo, I was just popping by when I heard your little problem. I can't say much, buuuuuuut” he trailed off teasingly.

Sock, growing more and more excited as the older demon went on, looked at him with large imploring green eyes “but what?” but whaaaaaaat?”

Meph placed the tiny tiefling back on the table before continuing, “you might want to make your way to the administration building”

“Why?”

“Well kid, I'd tell ya, but that would ruin the surprise now wouldn't it?” And with that, Meph gave the group a crooked smirk and vanished with a puff of red smoke.

Jojo gave off an exasperated noise, “I hate it when he does that…”

* * *

 

  
After finishing their drinks, the group set out to find the illusive administrative building. After about twenty minutes of circling around the same in they had rested up at before, the worker there finay took pity on them and gave them directions to said building.   
  
Navigating the city was much harder than Jon orgionaly thought. Because the city was built on a water locked bank, the developers hand to expand upwards to account for the rising population in recent years. There were five levels spiraling upwards, each with a decreasing diameter until one reached the top where it levels out completely. While the diameter decreases the sense of importance and wealth increases as one travels upward. Given the fact that the city is hundreds of feet tall, it gives one the sense of being on top of the world, an almost heavenly sight.

But for our intrepid adventures, most of whom are spellcasters and therefore do not have as much physical stamina as most other adventures, it was truly a long and treacherous journey. The bottom level, where individuals go to enter the city, was full of the common folk, traders and a displaced wanderer here and there. The trouble came with the the sheer number of people. Despite being the largest of the levels it was also the most densely populated, with barely any leg room to traverse the floor. Yes, there is an express route option offered, along with a cart ride to the upper level, however, Jon knew they would not be able to afford a ride to any level. They could barely afford the passes needed to go to the upper levels.

Jon gave a mental wince as he was told the entry fee to get to the upper level, knowing the price would only increase the higher they walked to get to their destination.

The second floor on this upwards spiral to madness, while a bit less chaotic than the previous one, was still full of people. Upper class merchants selling the same items as their lower level counterparts at a higher price lined the streets as exotic performers pepperd the corners, each trying to grab the attention of passersby. Bizarrely colorful outfits and alluring symphonies helped to create a captivating yet disorganized atmosphere.

It was the third level that they wanted to get to, filled to the brim with the cities politicians, the second most powerful group of people in the country. Entry into this elite section of the country was next to impossible, with the processing fee to start the application to gain entry being a ludicrous amount of gold alone, most people from the lower levels have never step foot onto this section of the country. Then there's the lengthy application process, form after form to be filled out only to sign more forms. And may god help you if you cannot completely fill out the forms for whatever reason, because only more forms written in strange legalize await the poor soul.

Of course, after all this there is still a chance that your application will be rejected, in which case you will have to start the process all over again.

In other words, it's a whole lot of effort for a whole lot of nothing.

Jon sighed, wondering how in the hell Meph expect them to get to the administrative building, when they can't even enter the area. He turned his head and cast a wary eye to his companions that were standing a few feet back. Sock probably wouldn't be able to get in even if they had the gold to cover all the costs, due to the simple fact that he is a tiefling (no matter how small he currently is), if not then because he’s a witch. While Jojo being an aasimar as well as a cleric will probably gain her entry, her brash attitude, lack of respect for authority and devotion to Prov probably won't go over too well with the various individuals up there.

He understood that the level directly above was the royal court, and that on the fifth was the ornate temple built in devotion to their various gods. He also understood that gettig where they needed to go was next to impossible at this time, but that does not reduce the aggravation he felt that this poor guard that was just doing his job.

He turned to walk back where he left Jojo and Sock to tell them what he had been told.

Jojo rolled her eyes at what he told her before marching over to where the poor guard was poasted.

“Listen...” she started.

“Michell”

“Well Michell let me cut to the chase, my companions and I have trekked up here from the lowest level, without any break, and would just like it you didn't give us the run around and let in already.” she spoke with every bit of self importance only she can muster.

“Well,” the flustered guard says, rubbing the back of his neck, “as I have told the other one, I don't have the authority to let you in. Please leave the area if you have nothing else to say.”

“Listen,” she snaps, glaring at the man that dared to disobey her, “my companions and I have to get up there, we are here with the Divine blessings of not one but two gods and I was under the impression that this country welcomed all religions!”

“That's not my problem, rules are rules”

“You-!” she was cut off by Jon’s hand over her mouth before she could let loose any explictives that would increase the rating of this fic. After offering an apology to the flustered guard, he started to pull the angrily flailing Jojo back to the side of the road, shaking his head all the way.

“Are you trying to get us kicked out again? Because i'm pretty sure that's what was about to happen back there!”

Jojo rolled her eyes, “look, we need to go to the administration hall right? We don't have the months needed to wait and see if we gain entrance. I did what I thought would help us get inside quicker.”

And Jon agreed with her, however he also knew that angering the guard is a sure fire way to get either arrested or kicked out, “the let’s come up with another way to get there, rather than try to force our way in”

“Maybe bribery could work?” Sock threw his two cents in.

“Where would we get the gold? No, breaking our way in seems the best option.” Jojo said, nodding her head.

“They have to get food from somewhere right? Maybe we can muggle ourselves in with a shipment of something?”

“Or,”Jon offered tiredly, “we could try to magic our way in, cause, you know, we’re magic.” It took his companions a minute, it seems they forgot they could do that. Even though they’re classes are magic they don't use it much.

The plan they made was simple, they would wait for night time (which wasn't that far off really), Sock would cast an invisibility spell on both Jon and Jojo, the charm hex on the unsuspecting guard, followed by another sleep hex to make sure the man was incapacitated. Why couldn't they just cast the sleep hex and then sneak in while invisible? Jon didn't know and chalked it up as Socks tendency to over complicate anything he's involved with.

After the plan was complete, Sock gave a large grin, saying, “this will totally work!”

_Dear Prov I hope so,_ Jon thought to himself.

* * *

 

It doesn't. It goes horribly, horribly awry.

The spells and hexes were cast just fine, the guard was incapacitated and they got past him with ease. It was after crossing the entrance line that it all went down hill.

After crossing they immediately became visible again as a shrill horn could be heard, piercing the ears of those in the direct vicinity. Next thing Jon knew, they were chained to a wall inside what he suspected was the city jail, awaiting a trial he's pretty sure will never come. The walls were a dark cobblestone gray, the floor was lined with damp hay and there was a small barred window on the upper left side if the wall, allowing a small amount of light to trickle into their new abode.

On the brightside, Sock is back to his original height. On the not so very brightside, he can't use his tiny stature to break them out anymore.

They tried to escape using magic, however they were unable to, leading them to the conclusion that their shackles are preventing them somehow. The only way they could tell time was because of the over friendly worker that came in twice a day to feed them. He would always come in with a new story or interesting tale to tell them, or asking questions about their travels.

“What's it like outside?”

“Is it true that our tea tastes terrible compared to tea's in other countries?”

“What's the weather like? Are there actually places where there aren't any bodies of water?” and many more questions similar, all pertaining to how the world outside the city walls work.

“You know,” Sock piped up one day, “we've been talking for a while now and we don't even know your name.”

The nameless human, who was in the middle of placing the shallow bowl filled with bland, tasteless gruel, paused, as is running back all their conversations in these last few days to see if that's true.

“Ah, I'm Zaccheus, Zack for short. I'd shake your hand buuuut.” the guard, Zack trailed off with a strange look on his face.

“Yeah, they cuffs would get in the way of that, wouldn't they?”  
  
“Uh? Oh, yeah, totally,” quickly looking around the small cramped space, Zack looked for a way to change the subject, “so...if you don't mind me asking, what did you do to end up here? It's not often we get prisoners this far down.”

Jojo cocked her head at the sudden shift in conversation, narrowed her eyes and stated plainly, “we’re here because we wanted to get to the admin building and were turned down.”

“Well, we did try to force our way in”

“Debatable Sock”

“I guess…”

Sock turned his eager eyes on Zack, “what about you? I don't think this was the career path you would have chosen for yourself.”

“I...well, no, it's not. Not like I had a choice in the matter, though.”

“Hmm? How come?”

“My family is what you'd call...unclean in the eyes of the town folk. Doesn't matter what we do, we will always be unclean. No one wants to hire us, let alone touch us. If they do it's always the jobs no one else wants.”

Sock looked pensive, furrowing his eyebrows, “Why don't you just leave then? Just pack your things and get out of town if it's so horrible.”

Zack let loose a long sigh shaking his head, looking much more tired than he had before. It was a strange look on his normally cheery face. “And go where? This is the only place we know, this is the only life we know. I hate to say this, but we have a better chance at survival if we stay here…”

“What kind of crap is that?” Jojo snaps angrily, scowling at the human from the corner of her eye, “‘only life we know’, do you even hear yourself right now? Just giving up before you even tried. Nothing will ever change if you just willfully accept it, look at you, rolling over and showing your belly to the enemy.”

“Wha-?” a flinch “you don't think we’ve tried?! You don't think I’ve tried?! Do you think we like being looked at as if we’re the dirt at the bottom of everyones shoes? The worst of the worst, we’re the unclean, the pariah. We tried to leave once, they won't let us go. Says we shouldn’t infect others with our uncleanness, that even dogs have more worth than us.” tears pour down his cheeks as he spoke, gasping for what felt like too thin air. “I...I just don't want to make anymore trouble for my family. Failure after failure, it's hard to try anymore.”

Unable to say anything in response, Zack left the three to their thoughts in silence. It was like this in the days following, a sullen Zack coming in each day, unable to look anyone in the eye as he quickly did his job.

Jon sighed, wondering if they would ever get out of this situation.

* * *

 

It was eight visits from Zack, or four days, later when said human came bursting into the cell, gasping for breath as he fumbled with a set of keys all placed on a metal chain as he kneeled in front of Sock.

“Y-you all need to go right now!”

“W-wha? Why?” confusion was written as clear as day on Socks face as he looked at Zacks frantic search.

As he was releasing the group from their restraints Zack explained that their case already went to trial without their knowledge, and that they had been declared guilty, punishable by death. Already there were guards coming to escort them to their dooms.

“Wait, why are you helping us? You barely know us.” questioned Jon as he rubbed his sore wrists.

“Why are you looking a gift horse in the mouth?”

“Because Sock, someone in this group has to.”

“Well… I was kinda hoping that you would take me with you?” it was then that they saw the large travel bag with various tools sticking out.

“Sure!”

“Finally doing something about your predicament huh?”

“What about your family?”

Zack gave a sad huff, “It's only me now, everyone else passed on a bit before you came here.”

“Ah…” Jon didn't know what to say, so he gave Zack a firm pat on the shoulder. He doesn't know if it helped in any way, but he tried.

The party, plus Zack, hurriedly made their way through the underground catacombs, many of with havent been used in decades if not longer. Thick cobwebs covered in a fine layer of dust shrouded the walls as rats and other vermin scurred along the cobblestone floor. It felt like hours had passed as they traversed the winding and coiling passageways. With all the times they had to double bac due to a cave it, it was a miracle that they didn't end up lost.

When they finally made it out of Gaharee Jheel the sun had set and the stars were brightly twinkling happily in the night sky.

Zack took a deep breath,

“Ah...this is freedom”

* * *

 

Our courageous group of people in desperate need of money traveled the continent in order to get as far as possible from Gaharee Jheel. Once they knew they were safe Jon pulled out a map from his breast pocket. The map had various ‘x’s placed haphazardly along the continent and he drew one more over the area of Gaharee Jheel. When Zack asked about it, Jon replied with, “These are places we can't go anymore.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, this is the type of group you’ve joined, any second thoughts?”

“Hell no! I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Jon sighed, Sock grinned and Jojo looked at him approvingly.

Yes, Zack knew he made the correct choice.

* * *

 

Later that night, the group set up camp. Due to the fact that almost all their belongings had been taken away from them and Zack, not knowing how the outside world worked, were woefully unprepared. None of them had tents, bedrolls or even a blanket, nore anything to cook with or even a canteen. Currently they are searching for a place to sleep, however the search has yet to be successful.

“What about here?”

“”Surrounded by colorful looking mushrooms? I think not Sock.”

“Here?”

“...Jojo, we’re not sleeping on jagged rocks”

“Ooooo, what about here?!”

Jon just looked at Zack’s cheerful face, then at the area he was pointing at. Damp leaves stick to the moist ground as a strange smell arose from the ground. It didn't seem to have rained in a few days, so the fact that the ground was wet raised up so many red flags that he couldn't help but give Zack a deadpan look. Jon lead the group a little further up, finding a nice little area for them to sleep after hours of searching.

Zack was sure that he made the correct choice.

* * *

 

When they awoke the next morning, bodies sore from sleeping on the ground, another problem had made itself known.

Food. They had none.

“We...could try hunting?” Sock asked unsure, remembering the last time one of them had tried to hunt.

The only one with any experience with hunting was Zack, who had gleefully went out in search of water.

“Searching for berries it is!”

They went their separate ways, thinking it best in order to cover more ground. Looking around the area however, not knowing which one's, if any, would poison them made the search all the more difficult. Meeting up after around twenty minutes of searching had resulted in abysmal results.

A put up sigh, “Sock, what did I tell you about colorful mushrooms?”

A shrug, “Nothing, it never came up”

“Just...get rid of them. And you,” he turned, looking down at the outstretched hand, “that's just grass.”

“You can eat grass.” said Jojo.

“Fair enough”

“And that?” eyebrow raised, she pointed to the items in Jon’s hand, “What are roots good for?”

“You can eat them you know”

“You can?!” an incredulous Sock asked.

This is what Zack returned to, Jon and Sock having a (playful?) argument about what can and cannot be eaten and a bored looking Jojo staring up into the distant sky with a blank look on her face as if looking a the most important thing in her life.

Zack is kinda sure he made the right choice.

* * *

 

A few difficult weeks of living off the land, our group had finally found a road that would lead them to a town that the were not banned from entering, a feat even among itself. The town even had a dock, with ships that will take passengers to another continent faaaaaar away from here.

As they walked down the beaten path that would take them to a place to rest, they had encountered a group of bandits hoping to rob unsuspecting travelers.

Unfortunate for them, this group had nothing worth stealing.

Zack readied his weapon, a copper sword, and looked to his companions, “alright, we got this!”

Sock smiled at the human, before pushing him towards the bandits, throwing him under the cart if you will, “yeah, you got this, we believe in you!”

“You're not helping?!”

It was Jojo that answered, “Look, you gotta learn how to fight somehow, this is the best way.”

“Jon?!” Zack pleaded with the one level headed member of the group, hoping for some back up.

Jon couldn't look him in the face, turning his head to the side he spoke, “if you look like you're going to die, we’ll heal you.”

And so it was, Zack fighting off five bandits with nothing more than minimal weapons experience, his wits and a copper sword. If it wasn't for the multiple healing spells cast on him during this battle we would have died twice over. As it was, having Jon giving him a guilty look, a Jojo’s disinterest and Sock looking like proud mother who just dropped her son off for knights training, gave the human mixed feelings.

Zack no longer knows if this was the right choice.

* * *

 

A few more days on the road and a month after Zack joined the party, they had stowed away on a ship headed out to a new continent. It was while thy hid in the bottom of the ship, surrounded by crates that they were visited once more by Meph.

“Ah~ I see you did what I asked”

While they all reacted to Meph’s voice appearing out of nowhere, Zack had the most surprised one.

“Wha?! Who?! How?!”

“Ya see, this is the type of react I wanna see!”

Jon sighed, “Zack, this is Metastophalies, Meph, this is Zack. He’s new.”

“Yes yes, I know, I sent you to get him after all.”

“Wait what? What does getting into the admin building have to do with our new companion?”

Meph smirked, “Who said anything about getting into it? All I said was walk towards it. I'm honestly surprised about how this turned out…” he trailed off.

“You mean to say we didn't have to actually try to get i to the building? That we got arrested for basically nothing?!”

“Basically, yeah.” and he faded out before Jojo was able to get close enough to strangle him. It was a challenge to stop her from yelling out in anger, giving away their position to the various crew members working the ship.

“Does this happen often?” Zack asked, finally finding his voice.

“Yeah, Sock is his favorite” Jon answered, casting a side look at the tiefling.

“I see”

Zack made the right choice.

* * *

 

The town of Tré was where the ship had docked, having to stop in order to get supplies for the rest of the planned trip. It had a small port surrounded by a multitude of trees dotting the border of the town.

Jon spoke first, “We need money, and fast. So let’s go to the town square and see if there’s any job listings.” having been meet with no objections they did just that. The town square was a bustling place, full of people moving toward their destination. Smack dab in the middle was a large board with fliers posted on it, jobs ranging from extermination of the local rat problem to slaying the dragon in the nearby mountains. Of course, this is what catches the attention of Sock.

“Let’s do this one!” he exclaims pointing towards the dragon flier, stars in his eyes as he looked towards Jon.

“No Sock we can't”

“Why not?”

“We can't slay a dragon! We have no equipment, we’re not strong enough, this is basically a death sentence!”

“We have to go” Jojo breaks in, her voice cutting through whatever argument that might have started, “My lady Providence demands we go.”

“When was this?!”

“A while ago, her meaning has finally been made clear to me” as yes, while Meph usually just randomly appears whenever he feels the need, Prov just sends some cryptic nonsense to Jojo, telling her what to do. To this day, Jon doesn't know which is more annoying.

Taking the flier off the board, they read the details written on the back. It informed them that the dragon that used to sleep peacefully in the mountains of Jarðarber has awoken from it's hundred year slumber and is now going after the local livestock in the area.

 

Jon was not a religious man. Sure he acknowledged the existence of the Divine (how could he not when the favorites of two God's are in his party?), but that does not mean he'd start worshiping them or anything. That being said, if during this quest they get out of it no deeper in debt than they already were, he'd become a devout follower to whichever deity made it happen. Because the only way they are going to even come close to success is by divine intervention.

He valiantly ignores the voice mentioning how sad it is that it's not success that is his main goal, but not coming out worse is.

* * *

 

Reaching the mountains was surprisingly easy when one doesn't account the parts where they ran out of rations midway and had to forage to survive because most if not all the animals in the area are gone. No one came close to the area for fear that the dragon was going to attack them, so random bandits to encounter. As they got closer to their destination the sky got darker and darker till the point where there was no sunlight as ash covered the sky.

“Are we really going to do this? I think I'm underqualified.” Zack asked, looking up the mountain nervously.

“We all are, you get used to it.”

“Huh?”

“This happens all the time, we take a quest we’re either not experienced enough for and screw it up, or the client lies to us about it resulting in us having to feel the area.” Zack could tell by Jon’s voice that this had been going on for quite some time, and that the human had resigned himself to this being his norm.

Climbing the mountain had been a struggle and a half. It's like the universe took one look at the group and decided that they didn't suffer enough during the trip there, so it's making up for lost time by concentrating all the suffering to be had in this one climb.

The cliff where jagged, tearing into their hands as they made their way up. Sock had flown up ahead of them, however do to not having any rope he was unable to throw one down and have the group climb that. His job now was to catch anyone who seemed to be slipping and make sure that they don't fall to their untimely death.

The air was starting to thin and the colder it became the higher they made their way up. They had to take several breaks whenever they found a smooth enough ledge to rest on. Taking small sips of water as they went, they noticed that their canteens had started to freeze over, the liquid inside becoming colder and colder until little ice crystals had formed inside. It wasn't until they reached a large opening in the mountain that they realised where they where.

Finally, they had reached their destination.

Readying their weapons they slowly made their way inside, Sock having to cast dancing lights in order to see inside the dark cavern, small orbs of light illuminated the path when he did. It was surprisingly warm despite the near frozen wasteland outside. The deeper in the warmer it became and as they past various gold and other precious metal objects has started to litter their path, shining in the pale light the orbs provided.

 

* * *

 

After walking for what seemed like forever, they finally made it to the dragon, or rather, were the dragon should have been.

“The dragon isn't here!” Sock exclaimed as he looked down, and indeed there was no dragon there. There were large piles of gold, stacked almost as high as the ceiling as well as an area with little to no gold, it looked like a giant crater from where they stood. In the middle of the crater they could see what looked with be a person, their purple hair sticking out from sea of gold.

“Did...did the dragon start kidnaping people too?” a horrified Zack asked, whispering in fear that his voice would carry over and somehow make it to the ears of the vary dragon they’re supposed to slay.

“I guess so.” muttered Jon, looking around to see if there was anyway of getting down to them without getting hurt.

With no warning whatsoever Jojo jumped down into the hole, sliding down a mountain of gold as she did. Sock looked at her with stars in his eyes and gleefully slid down himself, Zack reluctantly doing the same as a put up Jon followed suit.

Getting a closer look at the person, Jon could see that they where a female with long purple locks. Purple and black scales curled around her arms and legs. With a blush he, Zack and Sock had to turn away in order to stop looking at her, due to the simple factor that she was naked. Jojo shrugged off her jacked and placed it over the sleeping girl. She slept peacefully, as if completely unaware that she had been taken hostage by a dragon and would probably never again see her family.

Jojo glared in the distance, “How dare the dragon do this?” she hissed through clenched teeth.

The rest of them where at a loss for words, While they cold come up with reasons as to why the woman was here, they would rather not because it couldn't be anything good.

“First things first, we have to get her out of here” Jon muttered, looking down at her now clothed form, “who knows what the dragon will do to her”

All in agreement, Zack hoisted her up onto his back and they slowly made their way back to the entrance. They still had their guards up as they walked, never knowing if the dragon would appear before them or not. It started to get colder as they got closer to the entrance, waking the girl from her slumber.

Fist she twitched, then a frown appeared as she furrowed her eyebrows. Then there was a scream as she flailed, falling backwards from her place on Zack’s back. The others hurried to quiet her down, which made her more nervous. In the end, it was Jojo who put an end to the screams by slapping her hand on the mystery girls mouth.

“Shhh” she whispered, “We’re not here to hurt you. Can you stop with the screaming?” the confused girl nodded her head, “good, I’m going to remove my hand now, don't scream.”

“Who are you people?” she asked after the hand was removed.

“I'm Jojo, this is Jon, Sock and Zack. What's your name and do you know where you are?”

“I'm Magill, and I'm” she looks around, “at the entrance to my home? What are you people doing here?!” Magill demanded angrily, looking at Jojo.

“Your cave? This is the dragons-oh” Jojo stopped herself as she slowly came to the realization that the person they were talking to was not a kidnapping victim, but the dragon they had been set to kill.

Magill must have also reached the same conclusion, because she quickly fung herself to the side, back against the wall as she sized everyone up, eyes landing on the symbol emblazoned on a pin Jojo wore. “You…wouldn't be here because of Prov, would you?”

Slowly they nodded their heads in confusion, how did the dragon know who sent us to kill her? Jon wondered.

The dragon girl groaned and rolled her eyes, “I told her not to interfere, that I’m fine with the way things are and what does she do? She goes and interferes anyway!”

“Umm, what’s going on?” Sock asked.

“See, for some strange reason Prov thinks I need to get out more. ‘Make some friends’ she says.” an eye roll, “Honestly, she should mind her own business.”  
  
No one knew what to say in response, it appeared that they where here for nothing.

“Well, i guess we’ll just... leave then?” Zack asked, unsure.

“See that you do” Magill growled, “I don't want your stench to linger any longer than it must.”

Though offended, the group made their way towards the exit when a rumbling sound could be heard from entrance of the cave.

It appears that there had been a cave in, they can't get out.

Fuck.

* * *

 

Walking through the cave with an angry humanoid dragon muttering darkly right behind you is just as fun as it sounds Jon was beginning to understand. By which he means it's not, not at all.

“I can't believe this!” the dragon girl growled.

_Neither can I_. Jon thought in response.

“Prov must have something to do with this,”

_Probably._

“Damn her and her meddling.”

_Can't argue there._

This continued for a while, them looking for an exit while Magill angrily muttered behind them.

“Look,” Jojo finally snapped, “I don't like this anymore than you do, so why don't you help us search for a way out instead of complaining like a whiny brat?!”

“I don't have to help you with anything! The fact that you still breath in order to become this much of a nuisance to me proves my patience. Do not test me, lest you want this little expedition to be over much quicker than expected!”

The two butted heads like this for a while, doing so until the group had to stop searching or another exit due to exhaustion. The group plus a dragon found a place to rest, the party smack dab in the middle of the small path they had been walking on and the purple haired girl a bit higher up, watching as they prepared to sleep.

“You know, you can sleep down here with us if you want” Sock said, patting the spot next to him.

“Like hell will I be doing that, I just want you out of my cave.”

  
“Don't you get lonely here by yourself? If I was in your position I don't think I would have stayed.”

“And that, mortal, is what separates us. I could careless about such petty notions as loneliness.”

Jojo snorted, “If that was the case, why stay in a form that mirrors a ‘mortals’ as you put it?”

A glare, “I don't have to explain myself to you,” and with that she paused, face twitching as wings appeared at her back, extending her leathery wings she flew to higher ground.

“Huh, so she can do that.”

* * *

 

The next day was about the same, a scowling Magill following our main four as they traversed the strange cave system, never knowing where they were going. Eventually they would grow tired and camp out for the night, rationing their food as they went. Each day Sock and or Zack would try and strike up a conversation with the moody dragon and each time they were meet with quick, short answers.

“Hey, why do you stay here in this cave?”

“To get away from you mortals.”

“Doesn't it get hot in here? How do you deal with it?”

“I’m a dragon”

“Right, stupid question.”

The girls also seemed to snap less at each other, from what Jon could tell at least. They didn't seem to be at each other’s throats as they had been before this whole thing started. He had no idea why, one minute they wanted nothing more than to be as far away as possible from each other and the next they look as if they are perfectly fine. He would often

It was during their nightly chats that he found out the answers to some of his questions.

“Hey, why do you like gold so much? Is the whole ‘gold attraction’ thing due to you being a dragon or something else?”

“Gold is impartial, it doesn't care where it ends up or who it's with. It is cool to the touch and shines so beautifully, much like a star in the night sky. We dragons love to be surrounded by gold, though most of us have different reasons.”

“Hmm…” a sly look appeared on socks face as he asked, “is that why you keep staring at Jojo’s hair? Because it reminds you of gold?” and indeed, due to her aasimar heritage her blond locks looked much like spun gold, glistening in the artificial light.

A violent blush appeared on both Jojo’s and Magill’s faces as the dragon sputtered, “Wha-? No! I do no such thing!” and flew up into the darkness before anything else could be said on the matter.

Jon sighed in exasperation as he heard Jojo’s flustered mumbling, this was going to be a long night.

* * *

 

After that there was a rather awkward feel hanging over them as they made their way, looking for an exit. Zack had felt one side of the cave had started to become cooler as they kept with it, excitedly pulling the others along as he followed the cold air towards what must have been the exit.

The closer they gotten the more silent Magill became, frowning every so often before getting a disgusted look on her have and shaking her head as if to expel something unpleasant from her mind. Jon had estimated that tomorrow would be their last day here, having stopped for the night.

Zack spoke first, “So...I guess this is it huh?”

“Yep”

“Do...you want to come with us? You don't have to keep living in this cave all by yourself.”

“I'm fine just where I am”

“You know, living alone isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Don't you want to leave? To see real stars twinkling in the night sky with friends?”

“I have no need, and since when did we become friends? I'm just making sure you leave. Then it's back to my solitary, just the way I prefer it.”

“That sounds, really sad.”

  
A shrug, “You mortals are so short lived compared to me, what would I get out of becoming attached to the likes of you? No, it's better not to associate myself with mortals”

“But then you're just running away!” an aggravated Jojo said, pointing a finger at Magill.

“Maybe, but in the end it doesn't matter, soon you all will be nothing more than a faint memory, existing only in my subconscious. I will live on, long past even the grandchildren of your grandchildren, and still it will not be enough to measure the millennia that awaits me.”

“That's a really long time to do nothing. Can't you at least, I don't know, find other dragons to spend time with?”

“We dragons are a solitary race, rarely do we interact with each other for the purpose of companionship.”

“You should at least try, then you’ll at least be living your life.”

The rest of the night was spent in a silence no one knew how to break.

* * *

It was their last day inside the cave, they had found the exit at last. It was hard work getting there, they had to climb up on an incline before clearing the exit slowly, so to not upset the precarious balance the rocks had been in.

As the others gave their goodbyes, Jon turned and told Magill of the quest found in town. Warning her to be more careful he left with the rest of them.

Making their way back into town was almost as eventful as when they came. Jojo kept turning her head to look at the mountain as if she wanted to storm the hidden cave and just take the dragon with her.

  
“I can't believe we just left her there!” she exclaimed, guestering angrily with her hands.

“What were we supposed to do, take her by force?”

“Yes!”

Jon sighed, “We can't just do that, then she’ll never learn. The only thing that would get us is her discontent. Probably end up making her retreat even more, destroying whatever ability she had to trust others would be gone.”

“So what are we just going to leave her here there?”

“Yes, until she’s ready to come out on her own. You can't force these things you know.”

“I hate it when you make sense.”

“Just doing my job, someone had to be the level headed one here”

They quickly made their way back into town with little fanfare, hearts heavy as they thought about Magill inside her golden fortress of solitude.

The fact that they had left her put a bitter taste in Jon’s mouth, but as he told Jojo before, it's not like they could just force her to go along with them. She made her choice and now has to live with it for the rest of her life. Later that night the four of them were staying inside a room at the local inn when Meph popped by once again.

“So... how long has it been since I’ve seen you all last?”

“Well,” Sock started before he was interrupted.

“Wait, don't tell me, I never could wrap my head around you mortals and your concept of time after all…”

“Ah, so why are you here…?”

“See, this was supposed to be a nice, short fic not lasting anymore than about” here he paused to think about the total number, “around six thousand? The point is, we’re waaaaaay beyond that point. So if you guys could collect your last team member before this thousand is done that would be grate."

“Umm, what?”

“Nevermind, the point is, this is taking way to long and I’d like to be able to sleep at a decent time for once.”

“It's not our fault that Magill doesn't want to come with us.” Jojo quickly snapped back.

A careless shrug from the orange haired demon, “eh, what do I care? It's not like I was the one to send you to collect her, after all that was all Prov.” on that note, he then disappeared as rapidly as he came.

“You know, I'm getting really tired of these gods and their cryptic bullshit.” Jon bit out, breaking the hush that fell upon them.

No one could find it in themselves to disagree.

* * *

 

After mulling the cryptic nonsense given to them by Meph rolled around in their brains for a while, the group decided on giving it one more shot and try to recruit Magill for real this time. Sure they might get turned down once again, however it could not be said that they didn't try.

Gathering up what they needed to make the trip once again they listened to the townsfolk talk about a small mercenary group that had made their way up towards the mountain to slay the dragon. At first, they thought the people were gossiping about them, but they soon came to the realization that no, it was another group that had gotten the idea that the reward was worth risking their lives over. Rushing back to where Magill lived while at the same time looking for any trace of this other mercenary group was harder than it seemed, but they were persistent.

Fiding Magill was the easy part in all of this, all they had to look out for was a stock of purple sticking out against the green foliage and low and behold, they did.

Grabbing her by the shoulders, they quickly explained the situation to her, speaking so fast that it was a wonder she could understand any of them as they must have sounded much like a gargled mess instead of coherent words.

Next thing they knew an explosion rocked the forest floor as large amounts of debris from the mountain crashed into the forest below. It seemed that the mercenary group hd planned to smoke Magill out, not knowing that she was already outside her cave. Before she could do anything they grabbed her once again and high tailed it out of there, taking her along with them as they made there escape.

They would much prefer an angry dragon as opposed to a dead one in this instance after all.

* * *

 

“Why would you do that?! I was fine on my own! Now my home is gone!” it appears Magill was not happy about the fact that they basically forced her to leave her home, even if said home as burning and a group of mercenaries where poised and waiting for her to appear so they could kill her.

“What would you have us do, leave you there?!” Jojo retorted with a glare.

“Yes! I wouldn't have died, I'm a freaking dragon incase you forgot that small tidbit!”

“Well excuuuuse me for worrying about your sorry ass! Next time I’ll leave you for the lynch mob!”

“Good! At east then I won't have to see your faces ever again!”

“Why don't you leave right now then?!”

“And go where?! Do you have any idea how long it took me to build up my horde to what it had become?! Hundreds of years of hard work and dedication, ruined!”

“It's not our fault that some idiots decided to blow it up!”

“But it is your fault that I could exact my vengeance upon them! And you know what?” here Magill’s face grew sly eyes sharpening as she looked at Jojo hungrily. “I know just how you can start to repay me. Get ready, this will be the debt of a lifetime”

“And how exactly do we pay you back?”

“Simple, take me with you on these adventures of yours and just give me the gold you collect, it's really quite simple.”

Her statement was meet with no objections. Whether or not that's because the others had been too shocked to say anything will remain a mystery, but there was one thing Jon knew,

_I guess I really got that dragon after all._


End file.
